Posted 4 years ago on Dec. 1, 2012, 1:48 p.m. EST by shadz66
(19985)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

"Austerity : The 1%’s Global Battle Cry",

by Mark Vorpahl.

Whether we are left with the Fiscal Cliff or a Grand Bargain, workers in the U.S. face massive cuts to programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment insurance, Food Stamp assistance and other needed social safety nets. This is an example of “austerity” which has largely been pursued in the U.S. until now, on a statewide and local level.

The policies of austerity are not unique to the U.S. They are being enacted internationally. In Europe they have been aggressively put into play for four years. While austerity has been pursued on all continents, this article will focus on Europe and the U.S.
What are the policies of austerity? They involve the cutting of public investment and services such as education, health care, and retirement insurance. In addition they also include the privatizing of existing government assets. Public employees suffer wage freezes or cuts and mass layoffs as part of austerity measures. Labor laws are revised to empower employers at the expense of employees’ job security, wages, benefits, and voice on the job. And austerity also involves increased taxes and fees on working class people.

Austerity is sold as the only available means of reducing the debt. However, there is plenty of money to take care of these financial imbalances. It is in the pockets of the wealthy and big business elites whose think tanks and politicians are, not coincidentally, the architects of austerity. They want nations’ economies to be run more like the corporations and banks, prioritizing that their shareholders get paid first and foremost at the expense of everyone else.

In Europe the level of debt is 87 percent of its collective GDP, necessitating a severe approach, according to their outlook. However, in the U.S., which is in the beginning stages of an austerity campaign, the level of debt is over 100 percent of our GDP. Considering this level of debt and the size of the U.S. economy, the largest dose of austerity measures are yet to come, and it will be working people who will be expected to swallow them.

Austerity and Recession

What are the results of austerity? They depress the economy in the countries in which they are enacted and reduce the government’s revenue while fattening the big business elites’ financial reserves. With the January 1st Fiscal Cliff deadline in the U.S., the Economist Intelligence Unit cut its expectations for growth. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Spain’s economy will contract by 1.5 percent, Italy’s by 2.3 percent, Portugal’s by 3 percent, Greece’s by 5.2 percent, Britain’s by 0.6 percent, Germany’s by 0.9 percent, and France’s by 0.1 percent.

These contractions are in addition to the devastating impact the Great Recession has had on workers internationally with high unemployment rates and a declining standard of living. Today life in Greece has been likened to living under occupation during World War II. Spain and Italy are not far behind. Given this, clearly what benefits the financial powers behind austerity comes at a great cost to the vast majority of people and the health of the economy as a whole.

The truth is that the world economy is not in crisis because of debt. It is because too many have too little to buy what has been created. Without a stronger consumer base the capitalists have no reason to invest in making more commodities and creating more jobs. How are they going to realize a profit if few can afford to buy what is produced?

Before the Great Recession the big business elites of the world had gotten around this problem by indulging in an orgy of financial speculation, especially in the U.S. This extra cash, created out of nothing, enabled them to continue handing out dicey loans while repackaging and selling these toxic assets as good investments. As long as the cash spigot was flowing today, why worry about tomorrow, was the line of reasoning for the 1%. This created massive financial bubbles in, for instance, housing in the U.S. and several European nations.

The ultimate effect of all this financial gambling was to inflate the fundamental problem with the economy, which was the crisis of overproduction. When it was no longer possible to get beyond this limit, the resulting crisis was so deep and wide that even today, four years later, there is no real end in sight. This has been greatly exacerbated by massive bailouts to the banks both in the U.S. and Europe as well as costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan conducted by the U.S.

Shared interests?

Given the ongoing suffering of working people as a result of the Great Recession and austerity’s stunting effect on economic growth, why are the big business elites and their politicians pursuing these measures now? Aren’t we all in the same boat? Shouldn’t our fortunes rise together?

This myth is what is brought to center stage to justify the fanciful notion of “shared sacrifice” when confronting economic ills. However, it is working people who are doing all the sacrificing while the 1% fattens their shares. The relationship between the ruling economic circles and everyone else is that of predator to prey. Austerity is the result of especially acute conditions regarding this relationship today and revealing its essential antagonism to millions of people.

If governments were to take a growth approach and provide federal funds to create jobs according to social need, this would result in inflation. While it would be easier for people and governments to pay off debts, the money paid back to the investors who hold the bonds would be worth less. This is unacceptable to those who hold the purse strings, though such an approach would greatly benefit the vast majority. Austerity is a way of putting a stop to such hopes.

Big business is hoarding trillions of dollars rather than investing these funds in job creating production and services. In the U.S. alone it is estimated that these funds are up to $2 trillion. Without a thriving consumer base, the big business owners have no motivation to invest in goods and services. Without this investment, there will be no thriving consumer base. The economic elite sees no way out of this Catch 22, so they are looking for other ways to enrich themselves.

One way they are doing this is by treating the world economy as an enormous casino. For instance, it has been estimated that the total amount of derivatives being played in the market comes to $1.2 quadrillion — 20 times the amount of money currently in the global economy. While the results of such reckless investment produce impressive portfolios for a few today, everyone else is exposed to potentially disastrous risks in the future.

The 1% does need to obtain real money from somewhere, however. Productive investment is out of the question for the reasons discussed above. Austerity is a weapon they can use to muscle their way towards grabbing the vast pools of social capital in government programs meant to benefit working people. Rather than acting as organizers of production, the corporation and bank owners are using austerity to act as parasites, draining the economy as a whole.

Austerity also serves the business elite’s interests at the expense of everyone else in another way. Without a strong safety net, workers are left in an even more desperate competition with one another to find work. This enables those on top of the economy to depress wages, benefits, and rights since they have a larger reserve of workers to pick from who are willing to take anything.

Finally, austerity is a weapon to weaken the Labor Movement, the first line of defense for working people against corporate greed. For instance, in the U.S., it is not a coincidence that austerity measures are aimed first and foremost at public employees and teachers. These are the nation’s two most heavily unionized sectors. If their unions can be broken into accepting austerity, sweeping aside the rest of Labor in the pursuit of greed will be an easier task for the 1%. In short, austerity is a program of class war.

Push Back

Such an aggressive tearing up of social contracts that generations have taken for granted, as is required by austerity, has been provoking a fight back. In Europe this response has taken place at different rates across the continent. Greece is where the struggle is most acute with at least 18 general strikes in the last two years, and many more mass mobilizations against austerity. This example is beginning to spread.

On November 14th, a series of Labor protests and political strikes swept across Europe in a coordinated protest called by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Many millions of people are estimated to have participated in these events. In Spain and Portugal there were national general strikes. Nine million Spaniards stayed at home, or 77 percent of the workforce of the country.

Even in the U.S., where the struggle has yet to advance to this potentially pre-revolutionary level, we have been experiencing an upsurge in mass collective protest as a result of austerity. The occupation in Madison, Wisconsin’s capital was in response to cuts aimed at union public workers and teachers as well as an attempt to gut their collective bargaining rights. Occupy’s proclamation of “We are the 99 percent” was an appeal for mass unity against those promoting austerity for their own enrichment. Finally, the inspiring example of the Chicago Teachers Union strike, which unified wide sectors of the city’s workers and community, was provoked by attacks on public education justified by bipartisan austerity arguments.

"At this point, however, it is possible to agitate for Labor taking the lead in building mass mobilizations against the looming cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, public education and other needed social programs. From this organizing and its resulting political lessons, it will be possible to advance a discussion on how U.S. workers can better combat austerity."

"These local struggles and many more are a confirmation that austerity in the U.S. will be met with a fight. Though they are disconnected in terms of their organizing, they are a response to a national problem. This wave of local grassroots organizing shows the potential exists to galvanize a national movement against austerity.'' from ;

''The piecemeal fight against shrink-the-government policies is unworkable; we need comprehensive solutions to achieve prosperity for all. To make such an agenda a reality, the American people will need to stick together in pursuit of a Congress, government, and economy that effectively represent and benefit them.'' from ;

From which : ''If you start getting serious about democratizing the ownership of wealth, there are many, many examples to build upon - and then extend. Most provide profits to cities and states that badly need revenues - and in turn, this obvious boon to taxpayers suggests some potentially interesting political possibilities for the future.'' Thanx for your kind words 'tr' and in continued solidarity @ you, yours and all your doings, I further append fyi :

''Our heads are being held under the water by mass manipulation in a system which is now choking us to the point of unconsciousness, and ironically it is this very thing which is triggering our transformation and awakening us.'' Excerpted from : http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35099.htm .

Indeed ''change is inevitable'' and for sure that ''the dyke is simply leaking from too many places, and that 'they' will not have enough corks to plug those leaks'' ! I agree emphatically and thus with view to adding to THEIR woes, I append :

And yes we have turned a corner in our struggle from the early days so now that young lady's sign written on a pizza box is more timely, "The Beginning is Near," as we are now at "The End of the Beginning of the End"

''We are undergoing a mass transformation triggered by us drowning in despair. Ironically it is the despair from our system of debt, fear and virtual slavery that is the smelling salts alerting us and re minding us that we are in trouble.''

When the people who have been vicitmized by the perverse system rebuild the "beautiful connection to peace, harmony, love, and happiness" within themselves and between each other, or building COMMUNITY

We will then have the sustenance and the formidability to finish what we have started

This isn't a contest g. This is about encouraging, and inspiring each other to do more creative out-reach, and it can even be fun in a recalcitrant sort of way...lol

As i told you in a PM, I thought that your contributions on here have really improved especially with your recent "Slavery" thread which was clearly a labor of love

While I feel bad that I did not comment much on that thread, you 'inspired' me to run off a bunch of copies of some literature I got in NY last week. Imagine that...a Missouri dude inspiring a Joisey boy

The lit...half page on yellow paper, both sides..."Inequality is Our Pledge (a picture of a little girl with a snarly face)...Wendy's...OLD FASHION EXPLOITATION......For decades, Florida's farm workers faced poverty wages and daily violations of their basic rights in order to harvest the food on our plates: **STAGNANT, SUB-POVERTY WAGES.....DENIAL OF FUNDAMENTAL LABOR RIGHTS...MODERN -DAY SLAVERY"...and a lot more

In the last couple of days, i went into two different Wendy's. Yesterday, it did not go as well as I would have liked

But today, it went great. There was a line of people in front of me, but I went off to the side, and asked to speak to the manager. With my volume slightly turned up so the customers could hear, i began my spiel in which I appealed to his/Wendy's sense of humanity in giving these poor farm workers a chance for a better life. I told him that McDonald's, Subway, Burger King and Taco Bell had all signed on to the Fair Food Program. Why not Wendy's? And I gave him 2 copies asking him to give one to the regional manager which he said, he would. One guy and his wife on line actively sought a copy from me...and I gave the last 3 copies I brought in to other people on line. On my way out, I said to one guy, 'I'm not making money on this,' and looking me in the eyes, he said, "I know." It was a really neat 'human' connection

We could all be doing a lot more. Many of us are just getting into gear, others are getting burned-out

WE all have other things going on in our lives. We must do what we can when we can, do our best to do more, and be there to pick up the slack when others tire

Do you get the picture g?..;-)

~Odin~

Then there's Walmart. I kinda thought since most of our underwear was made with slave labor that...that would be an appropiate place to put some of my flyers...Should You Be Shopping Here?......

Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd almost feel that was an insult to Missouri dudes. ;-)

Which is okay in my book. Deep down inside, I don't really feel like a Missouri dude anyway.

And don't feel bad about not responding too much on my slavery thread, my friend, because as you know, it's more important what one takes away from a post. As a side note, I'm glad to see it's reached a wider audience. Last time I checked it was still on page 2 of a Google search.

And, true to form, you've done your part to spread the good word wherever you go. Great story about your Wendy's trip. The second one anyway, heheheh. And Walmart sounds like the perfect target for some of your flyers, especially in light of the recent tragedies involving some of their subcontractors. There's no shortage of issues you could pack onto an 8 by 11 sheet of paper involving that evil behemoth. When I get a working printer, I think I'll follow your lead.

On a side note, I'm still working on the boycott thread, but I'm not sure when it will be ready. First I want to post a Monsanto thread, which I should have ready by the weekend or early next week.

Hmmm, it seems there was something else I was going to mention, but it slipped my mind. It'll come to me, probably seconds after hitting the 'save' button. ;-)

No insult intended, I assure you. I do not have parochial views either as Jersey sucks (save Springstein and our tomatoes)....well perhaps with NYC, I do

I am glad to hear that your thread had such an impact. The diverse ways that out-reach is being conducted is all good as it has got to be dizzying for the corrupt elite

I kept my Walmart flyer simple (which i mentioned on here before)...4 to a page bright green paper...neat lettering....WalMart...Should You Be Shopping Here?...Considering; Six members of the WalMart family have more wealth than the combinded wealth of the bottom 30% of Americans....The sweat-shop factories that produce many of the products that WalMart sells have been responsible for over 1,200 deaths this year alone...As of December 2012 the average wage at WalMart was $8.81 an hour, compared to its competitor Costco, where it is $17.00 an hour

The More You Know, The Less You Should Think About Shopping at Walmart....The Choice Is Yours

Good, I'm glad you're following up on the boycott thread

I was in NJ farm country last week taking care of a friend's farm, and tried to find out what the farmers thought about Monsanto, but the people I asked were workers who didn't know.

I did make copies of some Monsanto lit, and Student Debt lit that i got in NY too. The young lady who helped me with the copies knew about student debt very well 'cause she had a ton of it. We ended up having a nice conversation, and I left her a copy of both, and told her that i expected her to become radicalized and see her in NY soon. She laughed.

I do remember you mentioning the Walmart flyer, now that you mention it. On the slavery thread, I think, for one. Four to a sheet seems rather small, though, but I imagine the smaller size might have some advantages. Amazing that Walmart's average wage is almost half that of Costco.

I just checked Costco on Wikipedia and the entry about founder James Sinegal has some good quotes. It goes to show you that a multinational corporation doesn't have to be cutthroat and inhumane:

I've known that Costco treats their people well for some time, hence i have shopped there for quite a while.. Sinegal has also went head to toe with his board of directors who wanted to pay the employees less

The big advantage Costco has in paying their employees well is that they have a much lower turn-over rate

Southwest Air used to have an excellent reputation when the founder CEO, Herb Kelleher was in charge, but he has retired, so I don't know how they are now

He expected professionalism, but he encouraged his employees to have a bit of a free spirit too

Replying here. Coles is one of our duopoly food stores. Woolworths is the other one. They have food, hotels, liquor stores, gaming machines, fuel outlets, hardware/building supply megastores. The two players pretend to be in competition, but it's BS.

Here are some stunning statistics on student loan debt. Is this really how we want our young people to start out in life?:

"An analysis released on Tuesday of 10 million credit files from Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO) found the average student debt load ballooned 58 percent from 2005 to 2012 -- from $17,233 to $27,253. In the same period, the number of consumers with two or more open student loans on their credit report grew from 12 million in 2005 to 26 million in 2012, according to the Wall Street Journal."

"Of student loans issued between 2005 and 2007, an industry boom period, 12.4 percent are 90 days past due, according to FICO. Forbes reports 15.1 percent of loans issued between 2010 and 2012 are 90 days past due."

It is not surprising that Venezuela does a better job at accurately determining poverty levels than here in the U.S. All par for the course. Sad, though, for the many here who suffer.

And, hmm, interesting, "And yet today millions of homeowners live in fear of foreclosure. A day filled with confidence, excitement, creativity, moral balance? Prosperity for all? Not if corporations are calling the shots at institutions like Syracuse University."

It is our job to inform the younger people of this nation that they have rights, they have power, and they can change the world to better suit the needs of the masses. Never give up!

And thanks for the link to A4C's awesome comment. "Climate of Doubt" is a documentary that every American should watch.

"Until Americans' awareness catches up to the realities of the increasing US class divide, shrinking life opportunities for the majority and disappearance of social mobility, we will be unable to address the problems of high unemployment and economic stagnation."

From which : "The severe crisis crippling Spain is also sparking some creative responses, such The Okonomía Project, a teaching initiative that helps individuals and communities to understand the workings of the economy and make more informed decisions to manage their finances."

Americans would be "astounded by these statistics" in DiMaggio's article above - IF only they knew & that fact that they don't, leads to an 'unhealthy society' !

In a humane economy people come before profit, labor is valued not just for productivity but for the human value that it returns to society. In a humane economy everyone earns enough money to live a decent life and wealth is spread out among the masses not hoarded by the few. Things like healthcare and employment and education are considered human rights and are the foundation of any humane economy. There is no "reserve army of labor" in a humane economy. There is little risk to the human being as the economy exists for the human being's benefit and not vice versa.

"Many of these investors, described as the “new water barons” in Jo-Shing Yang’s article "Profiting from Your Thirst as Global Elite Rush to Control Water Worldwide," are the same ones who have profited from speculating on agricultural contracts and contributing to the food crisis of the past few years."

"A closer look at the land-related investments in Africa, for example, show that land grabbing is not simply an investment, but also an attempt to capture the water underneath."

" Thirty large American corporations spent more money on lobbying than they paid in federal taxes from 2008 to 2010, according to a report from the nonpartisan reform group Public Campaign. All of the companies were profitable at the time. In spite of this, and the massive federal budget deficit, 29 out of the 30 companies featured in the study managed through various legal tax-dodging measures to pay no federal income taxes at all from 2008 through 2010. The lone exception, FedEx (FDX), paid a three-year tax rate of 1%, nowhere near the 35% called for by the federal tax code."

"Human beings matter little in the corporate state. We myopically serve the rapacious appetites of those dedicated to exploitation and maximizing profit. And our corporate masters view prisons - as they do education, health care and war - as a business.", from :

There is an 'outrage deficit' as well as a 'democracy deficit' in the USA and indeed arguably, to varying degrees, everywhere. From your very interesting link : "When profitable corporations can use the stock option tax deduction to pay zero corporate income taxes for years on end, average taxpayers are forced to pick up the tax burden,” !! Viva Outrage !!!

"The majority of those we incarcerate in this country—and we incarcerate a quarter of the world’s prison population—have never committed a violent crime."

"The for-profit prisons and their lobbyists in Washington and state capitals have successfully blocked immigration reform, have prevented a challenge to our draconian drug laws and are pushing through tougher detention policies. Locking up more and more human beings is the bedrock of the industry’s profits."

"We have abandoned the common good. We have been stripped of our rights and voice. Corporations write our laws and determine how we structure our society. We have all become victims. There are no politicians or institutions, no political parties or courts, that are independent enough or strong enough to resist the corporate onslaught. Greater and greater numbers of human beings will be consumed. The poor, the vulnerable, the undocumented, the weak, the elderly, the sick, the children will go first. And those of us watching helplessly outside the gates will go next."

Sadly, Hedges is right on. Thanks for that article, which is pretty difficult reading, but highly recommended. Putting human faces to these truths is hard, but empowering for those of us willing to fight for change.

Yep, "difficult reading, but highly recommended" were pretty much my thoughts about Hedge's article. Thanx for the extraction of excellent excerpts and in keeping with the subject of this thread, I append :

Your observation re. "human faces" is very important. We all know people in varying states of economic distress and we have to identify with and act for our own collective and societal well being - something that is utterly antithetical to the Repulsive, Randian, Reactionary, Rightwing Reprobates of The 0.01% !!

"It didn’t matter that the U.S. had the lowest minimum wage of any major western country (Australia is over $15, France over $11, and the province of Ontario in Canada is $10.25 – all of these countries also have health insurance for all)."

"The arguments for a higher minimum wage, at least to reach the level of 1968, are moral, political and economic." And, humane, I would argue. We do still consider ourselves human beings, right?

"...one Walmart worker today does the work of two Walmart workers in 1968. That is called a doubling of worker productivity. Yet, many of today’s Walmart workers, earning less than $10.50 an hour, and are making significantly less than their counterparts made in 1968."

This is really not that hard to fix. There is plenty of profit, it just needs to be shared more with the workers.

This socialism for the bastard banksters and austerity and extreme crapitalism for everyone else has to stop & here's wishing you and yours, peace and contentment for yuletide, new year and beyond, ZD.

"We'll have to get radical on their lame asses." - hell yes bro' & I truly believe that that way there is hope for us all. Bah humbug too, lol & have a good one ZD and here's a few gifts from me to you :

Job creation doesn't work either. What's needed is lower taxes on the lower and middle classes, higher taxes for the rich. The lean muscle of the poor and middle class can't support growth, but add some fat from lower taxes and growth will begin.

Most of the fat is held by the rich. That's where all of the growth is. An enormous double, triple, quadruple chin of fat.

"What are the results of austerity? They depress the economy in the countries in which they are enacted and reduce the government’s revenue while fattening the big business elites’ financial reserves."

"...it is working people who are doing all the sacrificing while the 1% fattens their shares."

"If governments were to take a growth approach and provide federal funds to create jobs according to social need, this would result in inflation. While it would be easier for people and governments to pay off debts, the money paid back to the investors who hold the bonds would be worth less. This is unacceptable to those who hold the purse strings..."

"Austerity is a weapon they can use to muscle their way towards grabbing the vast pools of social capital in government programs meant to benefit working people. Rather than acting as organizers of production, the corporation and bank owners are using austerity to act as parasites, draining the economy as a whole."

Thanks for this important and informative article. The call for austerity is only a call to enrich the few at the expense of the many. This must be outed for what it really is and the people must stand up against it.

Citizens "in the U.S. face massive cuts to programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment insurance, Food Stamp assistance and other needed social safety nets. This is an example of “austerity” which has largely been pursued in the U.S. until now, on a statewide and local level." Thus, from the remainder of the article, which does not appear above and from the link :

"The first step for workers is the building of an independent social movement that can advance its political understanding and organizational strength through mass collective struggle. To do this it is necessary to mobilize on the basis of what workers are willing to take united action on now in the fight against austerity cuts.

"Each nation’s working class will proceed at their own pace in this process according to their own national situation influenced by international developments. It is inevitable that some national social movements will be able take mass action around more revolutionary demands sooner than others. A slogan that may work in one country might not connect in another. The criteria for a slogan should be if it can unite workers into taking collective action now and how this struggle increases their strength, political understanding, and ability to take on more advanced demands.

"For instance, in the U.S. President Obama won the election, in part, because of his promise to increase taxes on the rich. However, it has become clear that he is more resolute in pursuing austerity policies, proposing a Grand Bargain to slash the deficit $4 trillion over 10 years with a 3 to 1 mix of spending cuts and revenue increases. Consequently, in order to combat austerity, it is necessary that workers mobilize not only for taxing the rich, but also to demand that the tax rate is raised high enough to prevent cuts, create good jobs for all, and rebuild the public sector."

Has there been any accountability from The Banksters after all that led up to and the consequences of the 2007/8 GFC? We are still dealing with and paying for that now but our meek complicity in our our penury will be tantamount to clamping shackles on ourselves and 'self enslavement' . Well focussed outrage, education, agitation, organisation and the search for new paradigms is totally in order and many thanx for all you do in this regard.

Those are all great ideas. Thanks for the article, and geesh, no, no banksters have been held accountable. What's up with that? And, this whole austerity plan is morally bankrupt. There is plenty of wealth in this country to go around. No one should have to suffer. This is the richest country on earth. Corporate profits are at an all time high! And, we're going to have austerity here? Are they kidding? Make the rich pay for the debt that was incurred because of their greed. Cutting social security and medicare, etc. while allowing the rich to run off with all the cash is morally bankrupt.

The median net worth of American households has dropped to a 43-year low as the lower and middle classes appear poorer and less stable than they have been since 1969.

According to a recent study by New York University economics professor Edward N. Wolff, median net worth is at the decades-low figure of $57,000 (in 2010 dollars). And as the numbers in his study reflect, the situation only appears worse when all the statistics are taken as a whole.

According to Wolff, between 1983 and 2010, the percentage of households with less than $10,000 in assets (using constant 1995 dollars) rose from 29.7 percent to 37.1 percent. The “less than $10,000″ figure includes the numerous households that have no assets at all, or “negative assets,” which is otherwise known as “debt.”

Over that same period of time, the wealthiest 1 percent of American households increased their average wealth by 71 percent.

As noted by Daily Finance, from 1983 to 2010 the share of total wealth held by the richest 10 percent of American households increased from 68.2 percent to 76.7 percent. Meanwhile, all the rest of Americans lost financial ground.

An August Pew Research Center study found that many in the middle-class are divided on how they believe his gap widened.

Fully 85 percent of self-described middle-class adults say it is more difficult now than it was a decade ago for middle-class people to maintain their standard of living. Of those who feel this way, 62 percent say “a lot” of the blame lies with Congress, while 54 percent say the same about banks and financial institutions, 47 percent about large corporations, 44 percent about the Bush administration, 39 percent about foreign competition and 34 percent about the Obama administration.

Just 8 percent put “a lot” of blame on the middle class itself.

“This downbeat take on their economic situation comes at the end of a decade in which, for the first time since the end of World War II, mean family incomes declined for Americans in all income tiers,” the Pew Report stated. “But the middle-income tier—defined in this Pew Research analysis as all adults whose annual household income is two-thirds to double the national median —is the only one that also shrunk in size, a trend that has continued over the past four decades.”

Wolff’s focus on total wealth not only measures how much money a household brings in, but also the amount it accumulates. This latter number is very significant — economically secure households are generally more comfortable spending their disposable income, and are less likely to become a drag on the social safety net.

"The average CEO takes home 380 times as much money as his or her average worker." Holy moly, and I though it was only 343 times!

"According to Wolff, between 1983 and 2010, the percentage of households with less than $10,000 in assets (using constant 1995 dollars) rose from 29.7 percent to 37.1 percent......Over that same period of time, the wealthiest 1 percent of American households increased their average wealth by 71 percent."

Good grief. Wake up people. This crap is not fair! The economic system needs to work for everyone, 100% of people, not just 1% of people!

"Our nation's responses to economic stagnation, the climate crisis, the federal deficit and many of our other serious challenges are still being held hostage by people who manifest a detachment from reality as profound as that of schizophrenics. We are still allowing a powerful elite, who behave like psychopaths, to steer our government towards protecting their interests at the expense of everyone else. The greatest threat to the United States will never be Al Qaeda, Russia, China or Iran. It will be our failure to wrest control of public policy from the inmates of our own insane asylum.", taken from :

"In fact, a recent study showed psychopaths were four times more common among business leaders than among the general population."

Among politicians, too, no doubt. I would laugh, but feel more like crying. Do we realize what a fear-mongering society we live in? And that fear-mongering has its roots in paranoia, a true sign of mental illness?

Outrage is the absolute natural and right reaction and you're welcome. Bernie Sanders is one of the last who will or can speak for the 99% in this country. Dennis Kucinich is another - which exactly is why the Democratic Party Machine was happy to go along with gerrymandering him from his Ohio seat. Cynthia McKinney was another and they got rid of her too. Bernie Sanders being THE INDEPENDENT Senator for Vt. is surely the key. We need many more pro-Labor & pro-99% Independent elected representatives if our 'democracy' is not to turn into a standing joke.

"...total wages have now fallen to a record low of 43.5% of GDP. Until 1975, wages almost always accounted for at least half of GDP, and had been as high as 49% as recently as early 2001.”

Yes, corporate profits are at record high numbers while corporations cry that they can't afford to hire workers or pay decent wages or give employees critical benefits so that they can live decent lives. This is because the few greedy ones want all the cash for themselves and they have no shame.

The people of America are being raped and pillaged on a daily basis and they sit around and do nothing. It boggles the freaking mind. In addition to the low wages, look at this list of mandatory vacation time around the world. The U.S. is the only country, the only country with zero mandatory vacation time.

Oh I'm so glad you posted this. It's truly shocking how much we work with so little benefit and we have tolerated this nonsense for far too long. There's more to life than spending 2/3 of it at the workplace.

I'm sure that many might consider me a traitor or unpatriotic which is absolutely NOT true. I love (loved) my country. I have roots here that I'm proud of and I love the diverse landscape and beauty. But, this is not what I ever imagined. It makes me cry. But, when little boys who are gay are going to be drugged into becoming straight and when media companies have now decided to use our TV's as surveillance monitors, and little girls who are made to look like call girls end up on the 10 most fascinating Americans list, I say, ' I'm outta here'. This is truly not a country that I can morally or ethically feel comfortable in.

I totally get what your are saying, ssssigh. Living in a sick society is not easy, and raising children in it, even harder. Your last sentence rings true in my ears and it is rather painful because, I too, love America.

Unbelievable. Every time we had a chance to choose more money or more time, we fell for the more money. Then, as the decades rolled by even that went by the wayside and the fat cats ended up with all the chips. The most baffling part of all is the way so many working people fight for low taxes for the rich as though something will eventually trickle down the leg of the wealthy. Most also miss the fact that over 50% of the wealth in this country is held by 1% of the people and 90% of that is inherited. So much for those bootstraps.

We do tend to choose more money ( because we NEED it) but it's not free money. No one gets a free lunch for sure! We have to work longer hours, take on tons more responsibility, etc.. which is exactly what is wrong with our thinking.
And yes oh yes, you are so right about how the wealthy inherited money. I wrote about that the other day. Most wealthy people inherited land, homes and other assets but they always try to paint themselves as brilliant industrialists who worked hard to climb the ladder. Bah humbug!

We need to cure the stinkin thinkin of a disposable society. I saw a commercial today that said hey don't worry about your decorating shopping this year - we saved the information on what you bought last year - so - you are all set to buy it again - YAY.

Most holiday decorations like other junk, are so poorly made that they don't last but one season IF even that long. Everything sold to us today is designed to fail in a short time. 75 percent of what I own is older than me ( I'm 51) and it works great! I love ebay.

My Mom was driving a lease car ( her lease ) so basically a new car all maintenance taken care of as part of the lease. She was at a stop sign and was rear ended. The Ins company totaled the car - too expensive to repair.

[-] 1 points by Gillian (847) 0 minutes ago

Now now, if you have a fender bender, it's not the entire car, it's the entire fender or headlamp....hahahha I used to use junk yards for car parts and I never purchased a new part..well, rarely anyhoo. But, today, we have been forced to purchase not only a new part but a very expensive part. Tail lights for example do not get replacement bulbs. You must purcahse a 200 dollar fixture. I don't know how you feel about this but it really really angers me and I am such a maverick that I will give up my car before I fall for their tactics. urggggg!
↥twinkle ↧stinkle permalink

No surprise there. I'm sure that the repairs would have cost more than the car cost them. Plus, the dealership can write it off as a loss and depreciate it on their taxes ( I think). They don't care and in fact, it works out in their favor and never works out for us.

The day of hand me down heirlooms is coming to a close. Furniture made of particle board ( pressed saw dust ) = heavy as rock but subject to falling apart in humidity. Nothing is made to last - nothing is made to be able to be maintained over time. Car + Fender Bender = replace car.

Yes, I was thinking the other day about what my nieces would be handing down to their kids. It's truly sad. I absolutely love old things and I love the story they tell. My nieces won't even appreciate what I have and I had to make sure that I found homes for my stuff in case something happens to me. My violin is so old and I wanted to be certain that it had a good home. Last year around Christmas, I was so disgusted with the junk being sold to us that I went through my house and removed anything that was made in China ( except for my computer and a few other techie things). I am so completely weened off the junk that I don't even feel comfortable buying anything new. I think the junk has bad energy. Think about it...it comes from cold factories where sad deprived people work.

Now now, if you have a fender bender, it's not the entire car, it's the entire fender or headlamp....hahahha I used to use junk yards for car parts and I never purchased a new part..well, rarely anyhoo. But, today, we have been forced to purchase not only a new part but a very expensive part. Tail lights for example do not get replacement bulbs. You must purcahse a 200 dollar fixture. I don't know how you feel about this but it really really angers me and I am such a maverick that I will give up my car before I fall for their tactics. urggggg!

I heard that Americans are spending more this Christmas than years before. I find this hard to believe but I don't go to malls or big stores so I have no way to compare. Why would anyone be spending tons of money right now?

You have some special numbers by your name today and thank you for your kind comment and for pulling out those percentages. The levels of Corporate Greed in this country are at almost unbelievable levels but our duplicitous duopoly has very little to say about the matter, as most of our 'bought and paid for' politicians have had their mouths and pockets stuffed with gold. Just after I made th comment above, I got an abusive personal message from that 'lignite' character, so there is no doubt in my mind that the Corporate Shills stalk these threads. Never Give Up! Occupy The Issues! Living Wages For All Workers!

I wonder what the causal links are in that 'wrong picture'! What ever happened to 'Trickle Down' Economics? When did it go into reverse? What's going on in this country? Are we all sleep walking? If so, into what? I really don't expect you to answer all that of course but may I draw your attention to this important and moving comment - http://occupywallst.org/forum/more-corporate-fraud/#comment-887796 Oh and nice to know that I can twinkle in safety again! Never Give Up! Solidarity & Occupy The Issues!

'Heart-Centred' is a very good way to put it and from the posted article - 'we have been experiencing an upsurge in mass collective protest as a result of austerity. The occupation in Madison, Wisconsin’s capital was in response to cuts aimed at union public workers and teachers as well as an attempt to gut their collective bargaining rights. Occupy’s proclamation of “We are the 99 percent” was an appeal for mass unity against those promoting austerity for their own enrichment.'

'Sleepwalking' towards what? Are we aware or do we care? If we do, are we waiting for someone else to hopefully organise 'therising'? Is resistance or acquiescence the future? I'll be honest with you, I dread to think the 'F' word but maybe it's here already & I shudder as I type this! Occupy Democracy or else ... !!!

Living Wages For All Workers!////////////////////////////// I would agree on this as for example a welder working in a small non union shop should be making the same as a welder in a unionized shop, such as GM or some other corporation. That way the wages would be fair. This could be done without unionizing all shops

I almost agree with your almost reasonable comment. Is this your way of apologising for your abusive language in the unsolicited Personal Message you sent me? Also, why are you following me around the forum? What is your issues with unions? I hope this - http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/ - is useful to you or others. Never Stop Trying To Occupy The Issues!

I have been in a few union shops, 13 years in fact. What I do not like is giving away my hard earned money to someone that sets on their asses all day. Also letting the Gov step in and control the wages would not be the way to go either because that will only bring about more socialism (Gov control) There has to be a way to do it without getting either the union or Gov involved

When you say 'I do not like is giving away my hard earned money to someone that sets on their asses all day' - what are your views about Wall Street Bankers and Corporate Clones? They are only there to suck out as big a bonus as they can at the end of their period in post. 'Socialism' is not about 'Gov Control' - it's about Democracy!

From the posted article - 'Before the Great Recession the big business elites of the world had gotten around this problem by indulging in an orgy of financial speculation, especially in the U.S. This extra cash, created out of nothing, enabled them to continue handing out dicey loans while repackaging and selling these toxic assets as good investments. As long as the cash spigot was flowing today, why worry about tomorrow, was the line of reasoning for the 1%'.

Thanks for your last line with which I agree as sadly Union leaderships in our country have had a history of complicity with the bosses. However, the new generation of union organisers are very impressive, especially those working in previously non union environment. Please do not forget that many millions of workers and their families have gained hugely from Union Organisation for well over a century and the benefits of that have accrued over lifetimes so that many people take that work for granted now.

Wall street bankers and such, I also do disagree with. But on this forum many point to the Rep as being the root of the problem and that is not 100% correct. The Gov although they seem like they are divided at times, I think that they work together somewhat behind closed doors. I know that Rep have taken money from Wall Street, bankers, etc for campaign funds etc, but the Dems have done the same as well, including Obama

You're right. Politics is broken in our country and The Corporations own our so called 'democracy'! You can see it, you can feel it and deep down - you care about this country enough to be here. We all need to get our heads out of the Dem/Rep nonsense because it's a false choice between 'heads or tails of the same crooked coin'.

Right now it is Boner, Bitch, Can't-or and crew who are standing in the way of moving forward by saying that they absolutely will not consider raising taxes on the top 2% wealthiest in this country - but they are ready to cut social programs on the needy.

The Gov is one big horse and pony show. They all (both sides) put fear in the American people. This ongoing one (going over the fiscal cliff) or whatever. This is going to be a cliff hanger like the rest of the crap in the past and will be settled at the last minute.

I have been in some union shops in the past and they have there good and bad points. I paid my dues but it never seemed like we received the representation that we deserved at times but the union dues continually increased anyways. There has to be a way that a company can run efficiently without union or Gov getting involved.

Corporations got away with screwing employees because employees allowed them to ( for many reasons) It occurred to me yesterday that all of us need to adopt their mindset of ' working less/less hard and earning more' and I'm not suggesting being lazy. It is astonishing how many hourly paid employees believe that the only way to earn more is to work MORE hours and although that may seem to be true, it doesn't have to be. None of us should need 2nd and third jobs and over-time to live a humble and happy life. Wouldn't it be nice if we could decide to work a few weekends of over-time in order to save for a vacation or down payment for a home or perhaps a class instead of feeling that it's necessary?
I also believe that when more women entered the workforce in the 60's and 70's, companies realized that they could now have two workers ( man and woman) for just about the price of one (man). Prior to women's liberation, men were paid well because they were respected as the sole provider of their families. It's still a man's world but now we all earn less.

Interesting, Gillian. I would agree that a big factor in the decreasing wages was likely the expanding workforce 40 or so years ago to include women (funny, we are two women saying this). There were other reasons for the declining wages, as well, such as globalization, a return to conservatism under Reagan which led to a decrease in workers' rights. Also, a decrease in unionization, increasing productivity and technical change, and more, were all factors.

And, yes, definitely, employers get away with the low wages because employees have not stood up for their rights, but they are starting to.

Oh yes, I completely agree about globalization, etc.. but I was referring to the ancient beginnings of pay cuts and how that sexist mindset became an opportunity for companies to expand AND capitalize on paying less for more employees. I can even remember a time when men and women during interviews were asked if they were married and if their spouses worked which was certainly a determining factor in how much an employer would pay. Of course, that questioning was later made illegal but even in the 80's some employers tried asking. If a man had a family he was considered to be more worthy of higher pay. I suppose we went from female discrimination to both male and female discrimination! Now, it's very difficult for a family to have only one working spouse.

Bernie Sanders will be very important - as usual, but we all need to hold our so called 'elected representatives' to account, just as we all - not just her MA constituents, need to hold Elizabeth Warren's feet to the fire if she backslides. We need to Occupy Congress and the SCOTUS and our State Legislatures, wherever we are! We Can Never Give Up! We Must Always Occupy The Issues!

I don't have time to click on them all but several are well-known facts that stand on their own, and most of the facts are backed up by decent sources such as:

National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, SNAP, U.S. Census Bureau, NBC News, Center for Economic Policy and Research, Economic Research of St. Louis Fed, The Guardian, Time Magazine, National Center for Children in Poverty, CNN Money, etc.

Not sure where you came across Breitbart, but a fact is a fact. If it's true does it matter where the source came from? Our economy sucks. I don't care what someone else's agenda might be with these facts, but for me, it is that our economy is an abject failure. Capitalism without the correct checks and balances to ensure that the masses are not exploited is an abject failure. That is what we have here. Big time failure.

A stomach churning link but thanx irrespective of that fact and I sincerely recommend it to all readers here who furthermore, may also wish to closely consider the following :

''The recession being endured by the American people is becoming more a thing of fiction every day. The so-called "job creators" are doing just fine, thank you very much, but they don't seem very interested in using the money they've hoarded to expand the job market. According to an analysis of some 2,300 companies by Bloomberg news, hiring by those companies has risen the least amount since 2010. At the same time, however, those companies are sitting on a cash stockpile of $1.73 trillion.

''That's "trillion," with a "T". They can afford to hire people. Lots and lots and lots of people. They just aren't, because they make more money that way...and there's always offshore labor available if they need warm bodies to work on the extra-cheap. More than a thousand of those people died in a garment building collapse Bangladesh last month, and the engine of industry barely burped.

''Is there any sign that such glaring and damaging inequalities will inspire a legislative response by America's leaders? Don't hold your breath :
A bill called 'The Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act' recently sailed through the House Financial Services Committee. But when The New York Times went through emails from a lobbyist to the congressmen who wrote it, the paper discovered an unofficial co-author: Citigroup.'', from :

The link above, like yours reveals something that is fkn disgusting & even the propagandist Corporate MSM mind-management machine, won't be able to control the outrage once it builds upon layer after layer of knowledge of the ... Complete Crassness, Cruelty & Corruption of Corporate Crapitalism !!!

"A report released early this year by the organization Oxfam International revealed that the combined income of the richest 100 people in the world is enough to end global poverty four times over..." Pitt.

You are absolutely right in your assertion and I concur. Thanx for your linked article, which I read earlier on : http://robertreich.org/ . Finally, I strongly recommend the PBS documentary above because of its extreme relevance with everything about OWS.

From the Robert Reich item : "Wealth has become even more concentrated than income (income is a stream of money, wealth is the pool into which it flows).

The richest 1 percent now own more than 35 percent of all of the nation’s household wealth, and 38 percent of the nation’s financial assets – including stocks and pension funds.

Think about this: The richest 400 Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million of us put together. The 6 Walmart heirs have more wealth than bottom 33 million American families combined.

So why are we even contemplating cutting programs the middle class and poor depend on, and raising their taxes?

We should tax the vast accumulations of wealth now in the hands of a relative few."

Agreed. Frontline/PBS gets it right often. Reich is a dedicated progressive. Obamas weakness in prosecuting bankster criminals is a testament to the oligarchs ownership of the peoples government and the difficulty of correcting the anti 99% economy we are struggling under. Thanks

It is staggering how wealth is hoarded by the greedy 1%. A small wealth tax (not income tax, or cap gains although they can increased for the 1% as well) would be a good start to correct this criminal self destructive disparity.

With the help of 'OWS' - Americans are waking up to an important truth. It is a very, very bad idea to yield control of the issuance and allocation of credit (money) to Wall Street banks run by con artists who operate beyond the reach of public accountability and who view the rest of the population, as simple-minded marks ripe for the exploiting.

By going along with its deceptions, the people passively empowered Wall Street to convert America from a middle class society of entrepreneurs, investors and skilled workers into a nation of debt slaves. Buying into Wall Street lies and illusions, Americans have been lured into accepting - indeed even aggressively promoting, “tax relief” for the very rich and the “regulatory relief” and “free trade” agreements for corporations that allowed Wall Street to suppress wages and benefits for working people through union busting, automation, and outsourcing jobs to foreign sweatshops.

Once working people were unable to make ends meet with current income, Wall Street lured them into making up the difference by taking on credit card and more mortgage debt they had no means to repay. They were soon borrowing to pay not only for basics and current consumption, but as well to pay the interest on prior unpaid debt. This is the classic downward spiral of debt slavery that guarantees an ever-growing divide between the power and luxury of an avaricious Creditor Class and the powerless desperation of a Debtor Class.

Agreed. Many Americans are waking up. Not quite enough yet. We have too many middleclass comfortable suburbanites who are still asleep. Still believing they will become part of the ruling elite, or that they won't be hurt. When we start reaching them, a tipping point will occur.

I agree with your comment and append the item above in reply as the American "middle class" is being assailed on all sides by the 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune', but like the proverbial frog slow boiling in a pan on a stove, they urgently need to be shaken from their torpor to enable them to act for their own self preservation.

"An anthropologist proposed a game to these African children. He put a basket of fruit by a tree & said whoever gets to it 1st can have all the fruit.
They all held hands & ran together. They all won! The baffled anthropologist asked why they did that. They replied, "How can 1 of us be happy if the rest of us are sad?’"

I just saw a guy on MSNBC say that wages are so low in America that it is now cheaper for IT companies to move their manufacturing back to Detroit from Mumbai. All, this while corporate profits have hit an all time high.

Watershed changes are coming. They cannot be stopped. The current economic system no longer works for the new age of technology and globalization that we now find ourselves in.

"We are on the right side of history. We are offering an olive branch. We come in peace, respect and love. We’re here to amplify the mass transition into a new age of enlightenment. The Occupy movement was the first awakening wave from a tsunami of transformation that is just beginning to wash over the planet. Each successive wave will be more effective in eradicating humanity’s most severe disease, pathological shortsighted greed." AMEN!

Trust you to select the definitive excerpt :-) & "As a very wise man once said, "Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.”"

In the grander scheme of things, The OWS Phenomenon is only just starting. Further :

"The Military Industrial Complex has solidified its ties and deeply inserted his long horns into the arteries of the American taxpayers." and please keep a cool drink to hand when absorbing this very short but eye-opening piece.

Also, to perpetuate The Military Industrial Complex and it's profits, our fear-mongering reactionary governments in the West have been forced to find another enemy since, shucks, the Cold War is over. Unfortunately, for the Islamic World, they have become the chosen enemy. The War Machine simply doesn't work without an enemy.

We really need to look at this closely as Islamophobia and cultural hegemony lead to more violence and hatred instead of the love and peace that the world needs. And, all this, simply to enrich a few people while the majority suffer. And, of course, nothing has been learned from history, for as we know now, communism was never really much of a threat.

"Paul Krugman Discovers Marx (and Misses the Point)" and a short punchy item for our consideration.

As per your thought provoking comment, there are Imperial, Geo-Politic, Commercial and Socio-Cultural reasons why the whole Neo-Con, 'Clash Of Civilisation' thesis is being pushed and like you say "The War Machine simply doesn't work without an enemy".

That article discusses a lot of the issues I've been bringing up here. I would argue and take it a step further, though, that this capitalist economic system has become antiquated. It no longer works for the technological changes and globalization that we are now facing. So, it will become defunct, and something will replace it. I don't know what, but then again Paul Krugman doesn't even know that it's not working. LOL.

If unions cannot represent, and once again create collective power for workers against the capitalists, this system will fail utterly. It will self implode as workers have no purchase power to buy the goods and services the capitalists are producing. We are really at this point now except for the fact that the Fed keeps creating funny money and people and businesses are surviving on that debt.

And, finally yes, all of this need for greed has led us on the path of Islamophobia as the War Machine seeks out a new enemy to forge their profitable wars on. Capitalism and War are closely linked.

The very basis of capitalism is exploitation. Exploitation at the micro level (between people, capitalists and employees) and at the macro level (between nations). This need to exploit creates fear that there are not enough resources to go around, and this in turn, sadly, creates violence. Violence to get the resources a person or country needs or wants, and violence because of anger over not getting what is viewed as enough.

Consider that the American labour market has been hollowing out for decades - losing many of the middle-skilled, relatively well-paid jobs in manufacturing that can be performed more cheaply by machines or workers overseas. It has split between a high end of well-educated workers and a low end of less-educated workers performing jobs, mostly in the service sector, that cannot be outsourced or mechanized. Also please see : http://economics.mit.edu/files/586 .

From the article above : "AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has called on working people “to fight like hell” to resist cuts to Social Security and Medicare. But these are just words. To this date, the unions have failed to mobilize their members to stage massive demonstrations across the country against cuts to these popular social programs – demonstrations that could culminate in hundreds of thousands of working people descending on Washington, D.C. to make their demands clear to the Obama administration and the rest of the politicians. Without the unions taking the lead in this struggle, there is little individual workers will be able to accomplish. And if the unions refuse to return to their more militant roots but remain invisible, economists like Paul Krugman will continue to ignore their existence and overlook their current historic failure to defend working people."

In the absence of a real economy serving real people, the War-Machine is gearing up for a new War Economy, with Islamophobia serving as the 'Newspeak' for an Orwellian dystopia - unless good people, educate, agitate and organise.

In terms of what Trumka says, I agree with him, but I do think that workers can rise up despite the failure of unions to do so for them. Workers have sacred rights that are part of the social contract and they can and will figure out some way to secure those rights for the future. One way to start would be a general strike.

All workers need rights, not just union workers. In fact, non-union workers have even fewer benefits and rights than union workers in many cases so they need to get it together.

Now, from the wage inequality article. I agree wholeheartedly with the conclusion that: "Devising innovative and rigorous means to evaluate the impacts of more realistic form of technical change and these evolving globalization forces on inequality and economic wellbeing constitutes a significant agenda item for further research in this field."

Um. Yeah. Because this capitalist economic system is failing miserably in this new era of technological change and globalization. Our current economic system is antiquated. It no longer works with the changes that are upon us as we move away from the legacy of the industrial revolution to what is really a technological revolution.

I truly believe that the violence in our society is directly related to our capitalist economic system that encourages greed, selfishness, misguided priorities of materialism and fear, and that ultimately leaves so many people out in the cold.

In extremis and in entirety, it is warranted to repeat the whole item below :

A Culture That Condones The Killing Of Children And Teaches Children To Kill.

The Sandy Hook massacre isn’t just about the need for gun control laws, it is about a culture that condones the killing of children and teaches children that killing is okay.

It is about a country addicted to violence on television and movie screens.

It is about cuts in education spending.

It is about giving the military free access to our schools where they regale our children with romanticized delusions of military righteousness.

It is about environmental and health policies that expose our children to all manner of toxins in the air, land and water.

It is about thinking we have the right to kill children with drones or by dropping toxic munitions on their countries that cause birth defects and miscarriages.

It is about saddling our children with crippling education debt and no prospect for jobs.

It is about telling boys (and men) they have to be tough and to fight and kill for what they want or think is right.

It is about a national policy that denies children basic rights and systemically teaches them that violence is okay.

And it is about a media so insensitive that it thinks it is okay to shove a microphone in the face of young victims in the name of sensationalized 24/7 cable “news” while under-reporting the root causes of this tragedy.

Sandy Hook did not happen because of a lone, disturbed young man and it is not an isolated incident. It is an epidemic and we are all to blame. And today (and tomorrow and every day after that) is the time to confront this self-inflicted tragedy.

The failure of the unions may well be a good thing in re-organizing re-building a stronger better more inclusive labor movement. The unions being attacked and seemingly not able to defend themselves and their workers whom they represent - shows a major need for growth and change.

I do believe that the success of OWS/OCCUPY in reaching out and educating the people - and the people then getting together and forming and taking action in varied and numerous groups - speaks well for leaderless movements and facing/addressing issues instead of playing party political games. So I think it is also a natural to inspire all workers to unite to face down labor issues.

In many ways the outline of OWS/OCCUPY has succeeded very well - a lot of times the result has been rather then GA groups - it went straight to action groups - maybe after enough issues have been addressed and corrected - that we will then see the growth of GA's.

Capitalism - 'is the world’s prevalent economic system. It is based on private ownership of the means of production and the creation of goods and services for profit. Wage labor is an important element on the cost side of the capitalist ledger. So are things like safe working conditions and worker benefits. The capitalist impulse is to minimize costs in order to maximize profit. Left to themselves, capitalists will pay workers (white collar or otherwise) the lowest possible wages and deny or minimize other benefits. They will ignore worker safety and deny any responsibility for worker health. The only reason these important aspects of the work place prevail is because of the pressure put upon the capitalist system by unions on the one hand, and government regulatory agencies on the other. If you want to maximize the probability of economic breakdown, just destroy all effective government regulation of the economy and outlaw unions.' from - http://www.nationofchange.org/blogs/lawrence-davidson/nationalism-vs-capitalism-1342887645 . I can't get enough of that article and just re-read it again, lol.

Never Give Up Trying To Understand And Explain! Occupy The Issues! Solidarity.

It is all true. There is no way around it. The more "free" capitalism is or the more poorly "regulated" it is, the more harmful it is to the masses. It just does not work. And, nationalism, it's little friend, only causes me-ism and hatred and greed and, ultimately, war.

The problem is that the people that are to the right have control of the purse strings, such as the Kochs, and so, the power they wield is pretty formidable. We need to fight back, hard, to end the grip they have on our economy and political system. Remarkably, we find ourselves in a plutocracy in what was supposed to be the most democratic nation on earth. Occupy democracy!!!

Never give up. We can get back our government, our economy and our workers' rights if we keep focusing on these issues. We also need to look inward as a nation to understand how we got to this place so that we can make permanent change that will be effective and not just a band-aid.

That the 'photo of Obama and Cantor says a lot.....and it's not good.', was very much my thoughts, when I saw that article too, lol. Thanks for your link from an interesting website but the BLS has been artificially lowering the CPI-W with quality adjustment models, which seem to tend to find only quality improvements but never seem to see any increase in prices due to quality/service deterioration. Let's face it, the government wants to raise taxes and cut entitlement benefits through methods that voters will not generally understand or track. Never Give Up Exposing The Tricks They Try To Pull! Occupy The Math! Solidarity.

A truly shocking article but thanks nevertheless :) From the article -

'Under the guise of the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) phenomenon, the Military Industrial Complex has solidified its ties and deeply inserted his long horns into the arteries of the American taxpayers. Citizens for responsibility and ethics in Washington (CREW) has recently issued a scathing and disturbing report exposing this unethical and frightening phenomenon where high-ranking generals and admirals earn their stars, their stripes, and then, they earn their the big cash.

The CREW report found that 70 percent (or 76) of the 108 three-and-four star generals and Admirals who retired between 2009 and 2011 took jobs with defense contractors or consultants. In at least a few cases, the retirees have continued to advise the Department of Defense while on the payroll of defense contractors, suggesting the Pentagon may not always be receiving unbiased counsel.

The retired generals and admirals moving into the private sector in general do not appear to be breaking any rules. Nonetheless, their heavily travelled path through the military-industrial complex continues to raise important questions about the intersection of national security and the interests of private companies that stand to make billions of dollars.

A 2010 Boston Globe investigation revealed that the number of retired three-and-four star Generals and admirals moving into lucrative defense industry jobs rose from less than 50 percent between 1994 and 1998 to a stratospheric 80 percent between 2004 and 2008, findings that brought new scrutiny to this unethical revolving door.'

The mind boggles at such blatant appearance of corruption and malfeasance but the further up the 'social order' one goes in our country, the more shameless the greed and self-righteousness. Ethics and morality are becoming quaint concepts in the US and we should all be alarmed at this.

What is a fantastic article, and as you say - 'short but punchy'! Here's an excerpt for others to read -

'When you understand the wealth at hand, you begin to recognize the crime against humanity that is afoot. We live in the richest, most technologically advanced society in human history. Yet here we are, in the 21st century, with the highest number of people living in poverty in American history. People can’t afford to pay their medical bills. Millions upon millions of American families foreclosed on. An all-time record number of children going hungry, as record-breaking profits and record-breaking bonuses are handed out to the bailed out aristocracy. It’s a massive crime against humanity.'

From Dr. Michael Hudson's article - 'High finance has become the modern mode of warfare. After indebting countries, creditors lobby to privatize natural monopolies and create new monopoly rights for themselves. It aims at what military force did in times past, but at a lower cost. It is cheaper to seize land by foreclosure than by armed occupation, and to obtain rights to mineral wealth and public infrastructure by hooking nations on debt. Subject populations will not fight back as long as they can be persuaded to accept the occupation as natural and even helpful.' Thanks for five fantastic links. Never Give Up Educating and Explaining! Occupy The Real Issues! Solidarity and 'peace, love and light :)

As Chomsky says - ' The United States is a special case, and for me, very interesting. It's studied carefully and we know a lot about it. One of the most striking features of the elections is the class-based character of the vote. Now, class is not discussed or even measured in the United States. In fact, the word is almost obscene, except for the term "middle class." And you can't get exact class data; the census doesn't even give class data. But you can sort of see the significance of it just from income figures.' & ...

'If you look at income levels from the lowest to the highest, as you move up, the proportion of Republican votes increases almost in a straight line. If you take voters above the median, Romney would've won by a landslide; below the median, Obama would've. Now, that understates the reality, because almost half the population doesn't vote, and they're skewed very heavily towards the lower income distributions. And studies of these people show they are overwhelmingly Democratic - in fact, social democratic. So if they had voted, the small Obama victory would've been huge.'

"Shootings are now a slice of Americana, bringing out SWAT teams, burly police chiefs, grief counselors, media speculation about the usually-20-something-year-old-male shooter’s motive, and impromptu flower pile memorials. They also bring out the peculiar logic of the NRA and extremist gun nuts. I’m not talking about responsible gun owners here. I’m talking about the ones who claim that guns and the wide accessibility of them have nothing to do with shootings, ones who cry that we shouldn’t blame the gun and make our right to bear arms another victim of the tragedy. Let’s fire back" !!

The globalized world runs on excessive credit with the World Economic Forum estimating that Global Credit Stocks will be around 183% if global GDP or $US 158 trillion by 2015,

Whilst Republicans in the US want more deregulated wages and leaner government, they cheer on the Shadow Banking System as the key profit-maker for the 1%.

What has really changed since the worst days of the GFC?

From this Casino Capitalism, a little trickles out in Foreign Direct Investment predominantly to countries which support the Wall Street Financial System by offering the best deal for investors. This amounts currently to about 12% of global capital stock.

Ironically, the 1% in the US can dictate to a newly re-elected President who must seriously consider cuts to essential welfare and health services.

So what are the alternatives to the regime favoured by the Wall Street System?

The best years for the US and most other Developed Countries were prior to the demise of the Bretton-Woods System in the Kennedy Era.

How do we go forward under a quite totalitarian financial regime in 2013?

Thank you for the very excellent article.We are now seeing the very monopolization of life our parents knew.America,a divided people that points it's finger at one another instead of those whom are to blame.

You're very welcome and I sincerely recommend the other linked articles here. Only Education can lead to our Organisation through constant Agitation. A Non-Violent Mass Movement of The 99% is what THEY fear the most. As such, please consider this site - http://wagingnonviolence.org/ .

Austerity measures = the greedy of the 1-4% starting to feed on their own limbs. It will no-doubt lead to their death - choking on their own flesh while bleeding out. Unfortunately it will be everyone else who suffers 1st.

Thanks for the link to this video. Was kind of a rough opening/introduction - but getting past that ( listening watching now ) is a very good program so far - much food for thought - much information to spark/feed awareness.

YES - Fundamental change for the better will come through the involvement and actions of the People. All Peoples in all societies.

I too have run into weird things such as clicking on a comment to reply and being instead brought to the top of the post or trying to twinkle a comment and having the same thing happen or get a 504 time-out error. I reported those things - I also tried experimentation and found that if I reload/refresh the screen - I can then make the reply or twinkle or whatever it was I was trying to do.

I think it more likely ( with any luck at all ) that as part of the optimization - trolls/shills/sell-outs will never be able to vote as no one will credit them with enough points - on the other-hand - "real" new individuals to the forum will get to vote as their comments are appreciated and they garner over time a reputation along with points.

EDIT - BS - unless that was taken away from U by the site - not the moderators - by the site. As such - if it is actually So - then U should B happy 2 B 1 of the very rare breed not 2 have been banned instead.

Just sayin

On the other-hand - perhaps U should feel outraged 2 B considered less than an ankle-biter.

In several of your Gaelic and other foreign language replies, ''troll'' has been one of the only intelligible words !!! And now you wish to try and deny it and claim to have forgotten what u said and did ?!! Your ability and inclination to take a cantankerous, bickering, argumentative and abrasive tone with me and many others is very boring, self-defeating and small ! It is a tone also further evidenced inter alia, here :

It's my forum-post and I get to add any relevant links to it and about the USA, as I see fit - even while answering your non sequiturs as I really don't have to hide behind anything or anybody to address u !

It was u who chose to interject here. U have no right or authority to ''ask'' anything of me. There's only one Noam Chomsky and no, we don't have such as he & u can post what u like about the USUK too.

If u consider Howard Zinn ''suspect'' then that speaks volumes - in and of itself. The ICH is a very well known and well respected news and views, web-site, based in America but which is probably at odds with your fundamentally 'conservative and gate-keeping' proclivities.

Like u don't open my links - I don't need to open yours but I'll put up The ICH against somebody's 'blog post' any day - irrespective of what it may say. I've told u before and often - u know fk all about me or my ''interest in my own community'' or who or what I consider ''community'' but u do resent me posting here.

Your parochial instincts give u away and u are the one who is hiding here and being obfuscatory. This is OWS where repeatedly voting for the faux choice, status quo is not considered to be in the fundamental best interests of The 99% - in The U$A, UK or anywhere else. Stop looking for arguments with me. You look really silly, small and censorious, not to mention - bumptious !

The http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/ - stands or falls on its own merits or otherwise. I know nothing of ''Alex Jones'' but if u had the strength of your clearly conservative convictions, u would have put up a link for easy comparison. However snooz, it is your inalienable right for sure to remain a silly, supercilious and self-referential, abrasive oaf. Just stick to 'stinkling' & u won't self-expose so readily !!

The only time I've ever mentioned Nazi's on this forum was in regards to the Bush administrations tactics that killed scores of civilians in Iraq. Oh no I also criticized the sanctions in the 90's in the same post.